Demetrious Johnson would have loved to see Khabib Nurmagomedov continue his dominant career.
Nurmagomedov hung up his gloves in October 2020 after a perfect career, which included three title defenses as a UFC lightweight champion. He left the sport in his prime after he submitted Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and, in his final bout, Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. This past week, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
However, with “The Eagle’s” career trajectory only going up, former UFC flyweight king Johnson wanted to see Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) compete more.
“His career, his legacy is amazing,” Johnson said in an interview with Helen Yee. “I mean 29-0, undefeated. The thing that makes me sad is that I wish I would have seen him fight more. He had a lot of injuries in the beginning of his career, in the middle of his career in the UFC. But (he had) an amazing career, he’s made a lot of money and for him, it’s like, ‘Why do I need to fight? I don’t really need to fight. I’m happy.’”
Nurmagomedov now has assumed a role as a coach. The former champ is helping the next generation of fighters win gold and Johnson admires how he’s passing on his knowledge.
“To see him give back to Islam Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov, those guys, it’s amazing because I know it takes a lot of effort – a lot of effort to be a coach. And for him to kind of pick up where his father left off, that’s absolutely amazing.”
Demetrious Johnson: Khabib Nurmagomedov’s legacy is amazing, but I wish he could have fought more
